Calendar

jJoin local climate heroes, community members, and supporters for the launch of Drawdown’s Neighborhood: San Francisco Bay Area, a climate solutions short documentary series (premiering at drawdown.org/neighborhood in late August 2024) passing the mic to voices that often go unheard in global climate solutions conversations. The series is presented by Project Drawdown.

This event is hosted by Project Drawdown’s Stories team and Matt Scott, Director of Storytelling & Engagement and the host of Drawdown’s Neighborhood. The event will serve as a sneak peek screening of the series (showing clips from the 7 full episodes), before the global virtual launch in late August, and celebrate some of the unsung and undersung local climate solutions heroes making the the Bay Area area a better place. With it being San Francisco Pride Week and the series featuring a number of queer Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color in the climate space, the theme of this event is “Pride.”

Doors open at 6:30pm, giving you a chance to find your seat and settle in for an exciting night.

A t 7:00pm, the program begins on-stage, with short clips from the 7 episodes of Drawdown’s Neighborhood: San Francisco Bay Area, live performances, and a program led by Matt Scott. The celebration will conclude between 8:30 and 9:00pm.

Drawdown’s Neighborhood: San Francisco Bay Area features people helping the world reach “drawdown” — the future point in time when greenhouse gases start to steadily decline — from:

• Acterra (Irvin Rivero)
• Business Council on Climate Change (BC3) (Lauren Wan)
• CalWave (César Córdova)
• The Lupine Collaborative (Grace Anderson)
• Mycelium Youth Network (Ashia Ajani)
• Shelterwood Collective (Layel Camargo)
• Sonoma County Transportation Authority, Regional Climate Protection Authority (SCTA/RCPA) (Anna Oliva)

Learn more about Project Drawdown, the nonprofit climate solutions resource, at drawdown.org.

Discover solutions and take action with Drawdown’s Neighborhood at drawdown.org/neighborhood.

“Where Olive Trees Weep” is a powerful documentary about the brutal conditions in Gaza pre-2022.
If you want to catch it on the big screen, the Grand Lake has scheduled another showing tomorrow, June 26, at 7pm.

The central character of the film, Ashira Darwish, will participate in a Q&A after the film.

Speaker: Bahman Azad

Since the election of the late President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, in 2021, Iran has adopted an active pro-east foreign policy and has become a key player, along with China and Russia, in the global struggle of the countries of the South for building a multipolar world. This active redirection of Iran’s foreign policy is considered by the U.S. imperialism as a serious obstacle to its continued domination of the unraveling unipolar world and an existential threat to its closest ally, Israel, in West Asia.

With the tragic death of President Raisi and Iran’s Foreign Minister, Amir-Abdollahian, a new round of uncertainty has begun both both in Iran and around the world about continuity of Iran’s present foreign policy. Although both Iran’s Supreme Leader and the new Acting President have insisted that “nothing will change,” the complexity of the Iranian domestic situation still leaves a number of important questions unanswered.

Bahman Azad is a retired professor of Economics and Sociology. His area of research includes the political economy of Capitalism and Socialism, and his articles on this subject have appeared in such journals as Political Affairs and Nature, Society and Thought. He is the author of the book: Heroic Struggle, Bitter Defeat: Factors Contributing to the Dismantling of the Socialist State in the USSR, published by International Publishers, New York.

Bahman is currently the President of the U.S. Peace Council; a member of the Secretariat of the World Peace Council; and representative of the World Peace Council at the United Nations. He is also a member of the Administrative Committee of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC).

Bahman Azad was Co-Chair of Venezuelan Embassy Protectors Defense Committee (Washington DC) and is currently serving as the Coordinator of the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases; the Global Campaign Against US/NATO Military Bases; and Co-Coordinator of the Hands-Off Syria Coalition.

Join Zoom Meeting
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Event info & registration: click here (please register so we can plan the space accordingly)
You are invited to join Transition Berkeley at the Ecology Center, for this inspiring & interactive event to learn how to powerfully activate yourself and your community in these complex times!

The Regeneration Handbook offers an abundance of insights, stories, tools, practices, and resources for experienced and aspiring changemakers to step into their full power at this time of unprecedented global crisis.

By introducing readers to a different kind of activism – based on universal patterns of Transformation, Expansion, Wholeness, and Balance – it points the way to a truly just and regenerative future.

Drawing on author Don Hall’s experience as a leader in the international Transition Towns Movement – as well as the work of dozens of regenerative thinkers and doers across many fields, including ecology, psychology, sociology, organizational development, and systems thinking – this book will help you:\

• Better understand our current environmental, economic, and social polycrisis
• Develop a holistic and inspiring vision for the future
• Cultivate the confidence to lead and strengthen inner resilience
• Work effectively in collaborative groups and organizations
• Reach beyond the choir to engage people from all walks of life
• Design and implement practical projects that foster sustainability and justice

While none of us can change the world alone, we all have an important part to play in the Great Transition. By starting wherever we are and leaning into this historic challenge, we’ll discover our deepest purpose, realize our highest potential, and learn how to harness the power of regeneration to radically transform our lives, our communities, and our world.

Sponsored by: Transition Berkeley and the Berkeley Ecology Center

Cost: FREE, (Donations of $5-$20 gratefully accepted to support the author & supporting orgs – click here)

Our trainings are offered free to the public. We encourage all people, with any amount of prior knowledge or experience, to attend these trainings and contribute your questions and experience.

We will meet in the back room of the Grassroots House. There is a ramp at the front of the house. Masking recommended but not required.

Basic Copwatching Techniques and Intro to Copwatch and Your Rights
TUE JULY 2 at 7-9pm

Copwatching at Protests and Preparing for Arrests
WED JULY 10 at 7-9pm

Trainings are offered in a series but attendance to one is not a requirement to attend another. We will do some basic rights review during part 2 to bring everyone up to speed.

If you want us to facilitate a training for your org/group, reach out to us at berkeleycopwatch@yahoo.com

Earlier this year the Anti Police-Terror Project proudly launched The People’s Clinic with scheduling options every 1st and 3rd Friday at The People’s House in West Oakland. We created The People’s Clinic as an abolitionist healing space for communities affected by police terror and state violence, frontline organizers, and our West Oakland neighbors. We offer free services for community like acupuncture, herbal consultations, massage, healing tools library, monthly workshops, and more.

Our Healing Justice framework invites community to envision and manifest a life beyond the violence we survive everyday. Without healing there is no justice. Sign up today to join us for free healing services this Friday!

Speaker: Greg Godels

Greg Godels returns to the Marxist Library to speak on the threat of fascism currently in the US and the uses to which that threat is put. Where do the threat(s) of fascism exist in light of the upcoming US presidential election?

Our speaker, Greg Godels, grew up in a working-class family in a rural coal mining community. He joined the Communist Party in 1975 and served on the party’s Economics Commission until Vic Perlo’s death. He wrote frequently for the Daily World and other party papers as well as Political Affairs and Nature, Society and Thought. Articles by him have also appeared in numerous publications, including Communist Review (London), People’s Voice (Vancouver), and Socialist Voice (Dublin). He is a joint founder of the website Marxism-Leninism Today and writes a highly regarded blog under the pen name Zoltan Zigedy.

See:
https://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/2023/07/election-fever-fever-dream.html
https://www.midwesternmarx.com/articles/fascism-after-a-hundred-years-by-greg-godels
https://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/2020/10/setting-record-straight.html
https://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/2019/08/lets-get-clear-about-fascism.html

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Relevant Agenda Items:

5. Surveillance Technology Ordinance – OPD – Automatic Resource Locator (CAD GPS) Impact
Statement and Proposed Use Policy

6. Surveillance Technology Ordinance – OPD –
1) Amended Automated License Plate Reader Use Policy,
2) Memorandum of Understanding For Automated License Plate Readers (Flock), 3)
Memorandum of Understanding For Automated License Plate Readers (CA Highway Patrol)

7. Surveillance Technology Ordinance – OPW – Report on OPD Request for Video Footage from Illegal
Dumping Cameras

8. Surveillance Technology Ordinance – OPW – Illegal Dumping Camera Program Annual report

Members of the public can view the meeting live on KTOP or on the City’s website at
https://www.oaklandca.gov/topics/ktop-tv-10

Comment in advance. To send your comment directly to the Privacy Commission and staff BEFORE the meeting starts, please send your comment, along with your full name and agenda item number you are commenting on, to Felicia Verdin at fverdin@oaklandca.gov. Please note that eComment submissions close one (1) hour before posted meeting time. All submitted public comment will be provided to the Privacy Commission prior to the meeting.

Our trainings are offered free to the public. We encourage all people, with any amount of prior knowledge or experience, to attend these trainings and contribute your questions and experience.

We will meet in the back room of the Grassroots House. There is a ramp at the front of the house. Masking recommended but not required.

Basic Copwatching Techniques and Intro to Copwatch and Your Rights
TUE JULY 2 at 7-9pm

Copwatching at Protests and Preparing for Arrests
WED JULY 10 at 7-9pm

Trainings are offered in a series but attendance to one is not a requirement to attend another. We will do some basic rights review during part 2 to bring everyone up to speed.

If you want us to facilitate a training for your org/group, reach out to us at berkeleycopwatch@yahoo.com

Via Zoom: To receive the Zoom info, please register on the LaborFest website, here:  https://laborfest.net/event/the-fight-to-save-peoples-park/  

The ongoing battle to prevent the development by UC of People’s Park in Berkeley continues. The park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and an important Court of Appeal victory was won. However, UC appealed the court decision to the State Supreme Court and simultaneously subverted the court victory by getting the legislature to pass a bill to undermine it. Construction is halted until the court issues its decision. Organizing strategies are still being pursued to protect the park from destruction by a huge student housing project and the paving over with hardscape, despite the need for open space in the densest part of Berkeley. This Zoom panel will also talk about how privatization is pushing the monetization of the public assets of the University and how this process has become a national trend.

Speakers:
Harvey Smith � Peoplle’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group
Charles Wollenberg � former Chair of Social Sciences and Professor of Hiistory, Berkeley City College
Joe Liesner � Foodd Not Bombs

Speaker, Jose Luis Granados Ceja

General elections were held in Mexico on June 2, 2024. Claudia Sheinbaum, a member of the left-wing political party Morena, won a majority with over 60% of the vote. She is the first woman and the first person of Jewish descent to be elected president of Mexico.

The presentation will focus on the role that public policies favoring the interests of the working class played in the landslide victory for Morena and its allies that resulted in the election of Mexico’s first woman president and supermajority in Congress. The presentation will also look at what we can expect from Sheinbaum’s government. What does she mean when she talks about building the “second floor” of Mexico’s Fourth Transformation?

Finally, we will discuss, given the rout of the country’s opposition and their marginalization from public life, where we might expect opposition to come from and what anti-imperialist activists can do to resist US interference.

José Luis Granados Ceja is an anti-imperialist journalist and political analyst based in Mexico City, with 20 years of experience covering social movements, democracy, elections, and human rights. He is a staff writer with Venezuelanalysis, covering regional and international issues, and is the host of their podcast. He also serves as editor of the Mexico Solidarity Media website and writes a monthly opinion column for the Mexico Solidarity Project Bulletin. Together with Kurt Hackbarth, he co-hosts the Soberanía podcast, which provides English-language analysis of politics in Mexico.

See our speaker’s article in The Nation: “Claudia Sheinbaum’s Election in Mexico Shows How the Left Can Win. Sheinbaum’s landslide victory is thanks to her commitment to continue policies that put the interests of the working class first. (June 21, 2024)

Join Zoom Meeting
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It’s not too late, if we act fast enough now! Even as emissions increase and treaties collapse, we can still stop these twin existential crises from becoming catastrophic. We already have all the solutions we need to stop burning fossil fuels and to abolish nuclear weapons once and for all.

How can environmentalists and peace activists work together to overcome propaganda, problematic “solutions,” and political agendas that threaten our very survival? Author Timmon Wallis will share new insights and fresh strategies. The corporate profiteers who corrupt our legislators are surprisingly vulnerable to legal threats from the Nuclear Ban Treaty and from the global movement for a Fossil Fuel Treaty.

Timmon Wallis, PhD is the National Coordinator of the Warheads to Windmills Coalition. He has spent his life teaching, writing, directing organizations, and campaigning on peace and environmental issues in colleges, war zones, and with governments around the world. With his colleagues at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, he shares the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

Vicki Elson, MA is the Creative Director of NuclearBan.US, which facilitates the Warheads to Windmills Coalition. After a long career in childbirth education and labor support, she has shifted her focus to supporting human well-being with total nuclear abolition and converting the resources wasted on WMD’s to science-based climate solutions.

(Followed by County Council business meeting at 7:00. All are welcome to attend)

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88083342274
Meeting ID: 880 8334 2274

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/k39IUnw59

The California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA) and Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) are co-sponsoring an important webinar about the potentially negative cumulative health concerns of hydrogen infrastructure, and the environmental justice solutions.

While the state of California plans to expand its use of hydrogen as fuel, each stage of its life cycle—production, delivery, storage, and end use—presents a unique risk to environmental justice communities.  CEJA and CBE will deconstruct the greenwashing of hydrogen and its impacts, which include air pollution, pipe embrittlement, and gas line leaks and explosions.   Join this webinar to learn more about how you can demand transparent participation in the state’s energy infrastructure.  It’s not too late to create a truly equitable clean energy future for all Californians.

This event will happen in both English and Spanish.  Please reach with any questions to Mia Lopez-Zubiri at mia@ceja.org .

{PARTNER POST} JOIN US FOR A DAY OF GIVING! Alameda County Community Connect invites you to our Homeless Resource and Job Fair! Open to all – no registration needed!
🗓️Date: Thursday, July 18, 2024
⏰Time: 9 AM – 4 PM
📍Location: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum pic.twitter.com/W59OxXEXTE

— Roots Community Health (@RootsEmpowers) July 17, 2024

“Climate and Biodiversity” is the next topic in the Climate Emergency Mobilization Task Force’s fifth series of summits, this series focusing on “Climate, Colonization, and Rights for Humans and Nature.”

Online. Register here

Program:

9:00 AM

Land Acknowledgement

9:10 AM

Welcome

• Cheryl Davila, Founder, CEMTF & Former Councilmember, City of Berkeley

Speakers:

9:15 AM

Advancing Social Justice in Marginalized Communities & Among University Students

• Leonida Odongo, Founding Director, Haki Nawiri Afrika

9:40 AM

The Importance of Microbial Diversity in California Estuarine Ecosystems

• Karis Polfer, Steering Committee Member, CEMTF

10: 05 AM

From the Grassroots to the Global – Biodiversity Conservation beyond Protected Acres

• Liz Chamberlin, Director of Innovation, Point Blue

10:30 AM

Connected California: Helping People and Wildlife Coexist and Thrive

• Neal Sharma, Senior Manager, California Wildlife Program, Wildlife Conservation Network

10:55 AM Break

11:00 AM

Biodiversity Conservation Using Science, Policy, and Law

• Tiffany Yap, Senior Scientist, Urban Wildlands Program, Center for Biological Diversity

11:25 AM

Bioblitz!

• Martha Arlette Cerda, Naturalist, Tilden Nature Area, East Bay Regional Park District

11:35 AM

Q & A

11:50 AM

Announcements & Closing

• Cheryl Davila

Website: https://cemtf.org

Earlier this year the Anti Police-Terror Project proudly launched The People’s Clinic with scheduling options every 1st and 3rd Friday at The People’s House in West Oakland. We created The People’s Clinic as an abolitionist healing space for communities affected by police terror and state violence, frontline organizers, and our West Oakland neighbors. We offer free services for community like acupuncture, herbal consultations, massage, healing tools library, monthly workshops, and more.

Our Healing Justice framework invites community to envision and manifest a life beyond the violence we survive everyday. Without healing there is no justice. Sign up today to join us for free healing services this Friday!

Save the Date for the @GlobalComEduArt 8th Annual Immigrants' Rights Forum, featuring inspirational guest speakers, cultural performances, art exhibitions, and community dialogue.

Saturday, July 20, 2024 | 2 PM – 7 PM
4689 Telegraph Ave., Oakland

RSVP: https://t.co/yPwBwQwxAf pic.twitter.com/I3Jtw1h1YG

— Supervisor Keith Carson (@Keith_Carson) June 18, 2024